CANYON CITY – Low-income senior citizens who want to defer the property taxes on their homes need to submit paperwork to the state by Monday, July 25.

The Legislature tightened up eligibility requirements for the state’s Senior and Disabled Property Tax Deferral, which aims to help those residents afford to stay in their homes by paying their property taxes.

The state sent more than 10,000 letters out July 1 notifying people about the rule changes and the requirement that they submit financial and other information by July 25 to determine eligibility.

Grant County Assessor Lane Burton said the county had 29 residents participating in the program last year. He said he hasn’t had a lot of questions from homeowners, as the deadline looms.

He said people with questions should contact the Oregon Department of Revenue at 1-800-356-4222, or visit the agency’s website.

The program, established in the 1960s, provided the deferral for people were at least 62 years old and had annual taxable income of no more than $39,500. The state pays the property taxes to the counties, and the state fund is repaid at 6 percent interest when the homeowner dies or sells the home.

The 2011 Legislature tightened up income criteria and asset limits, required that homeowners have at least five years residency in the home, and barred properties with reverse mortgages from participating.

The tighter rules are expected to prevent abuses of the system. An investigation by The Oregonian this year found that nearly 200 people with homes valued at $500,000-plus had benefited the program.

The changes also were made to address a shortfall in the fund used to pay the property taxes, a situation blamed on the recession and flat housing market.

Another factor was legislators’ decision in 2008, when the fund was still flush, to use some $14 million from it to pay for other senior programs.